Hugo Dellien is a trailblazer for the sport of tennis in Bolivia, and his recent appearance at the Australian Open in Melbourne is a sign that his star will continue to rise.
The world No.73 became the first Bolivian player in history to take part in the Grand Slam, and despite his first-round exit to world No.1 Rafael Nadal, it was a feat celebrated in his homeland.
Upon his return home, he was honoured by the country’s government and interim President Jeanine Añez.
But his current success would never have been possible without years of preparation and sacrifice.
In a country without a tennis tradition, Dellien’s parents enrolled him in the only private tennis school in the small town of Trinidad.
As he began to hone his talent and separate himself from the rest of the pack, he decided to aim towards a career in the sport – a move he soon realised would take a mammoth effort financially.
“We knew that in Bolivia we would not receive the necessary support,” he tells SBS Spanish.
“You need $100,000 annually to pay for trips and trainers. It is not easy to get that budget. Not all families can reach those amounts.”
His family was the pillar of support that sustained him and continues to do so today.
He recalls that his family was even willing to sell their belongings to help him meet his expenses in the first years of his career.
"My parents had thousands of opportunities to tell me ‘it's enough, we can't’. But they told me, ‘it doesn't matter, we'll sell everything’.
“Maybe it's because my father dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player and my grandfather was very closed. He never gave my dad the opportunity to devote himself to it.”
But in 2018, Dellien's dreams hit a major roadblock.
He was forced to give up the sport he loves, after suffering a serious leg injury, on top of losing an important sponsor.
The injury kept him off the court for six months, which left him painfully short of the points he needed to qualify for the French Open.
Along with the blow of missing the Grand Slam, as well as many years of travelling alone, he decided to call it quits.
“There I said enough. I didn't want to keep begging. I knew that if I continued, I could become the world No.150, but without a professional team behind you it is complicated and mentally I was not prepared to continue fighting. I cried a lot, but the reality was that we weren't going to get anywhere.”
However, after time away from the court, messages of support began trickling in from people across Bolivia for him to return. It was a response that he never expected.
The Bolivian Tennis Federation then chimed in by granting him $1500 to begin training again.
It paid off as he returned to the court and began winning matches again.
He began training under former Argentinian tennis player Eduardo Medica, and in 2019, Dellian competed at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
